Yale Map Collection Workshops

Introduction toESRI’s ArcGIS

Exercise # 1 - Creating a Simple Map in ArcMap

In this exercise you are introduced to the ArcMap interface and some of the basic skills necessary to create simple maps. Once you have successfully completed this part of the tutorial, you will know:

  • How to open ArcMap with a new empty Map Document
  • How to personalize the ArcMap interface and add new toolbars
  • How to add spatial data to your Map Document
  • How to set relative pathnames to allow you to move and share your Map Projects
  • The difference between Data View and Layout View
  • How to change Map Feature transparencies
  • How to label Map Features
  • How to alter Map Feature Symbology
  • How to add essential Map Elements (North Arrow, Legend, etc…) for effective map creation
  • How to export your map to PDF and JPG

Preparing For the Tutorial

1)Navigate to theC:\Temp folder on your harddrive.

2)Make a New Folder using your initialsas the name of the New Folder. For example, if your name is John Jacob Jinglehymer-Smith, you would make a new folder called C:\Temp\JJJ

3)Open the web browser available on your machine and navigate to the Map Collection website at . Click on the “Download GIS Workshop Materials” link under Quicklinks and look for the Introduction to GIS Mapping and ESRI’s ArcGIS Software materials. Downloadthe Data fileto your C:\Temp\intialsfolder.

4)Unzip the dataset to your initials folder (You should be able to simply right-click on the file and selectExtract Here…). This file contains the datasets we will use for the exercises that follow.

5)Browse into the C:\Temp\your_initials\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\ folder where you extracted the dataset and take a look at the files in the EX1_Data folder. Note that there are many files in this folder, some of which have the same name, but different file extensions.

Starting ArcMap and Getting the Interface Ready to Use

1)StartArcMap(which should be under Start>Programs>ArcGIS>ArcMap).

2)When prompted, Select the “with a new empty map” option.You will be presented with something like what you see below:

  • The Main Menu should be familiar to anyone who uses Microsoft Windows software. It is where you perform basic file and document editing functions.
  • The Table of Contents is the area where your data layers will be listed and where you can interact with and alter the properties of individual layers.
  • The Add Data button is located on the “Standard” Toolbar and opens a dilog box that allows new layers to be added to the Table of Contents and Map Document. It should not be confused with the Open Document button, which is located on the same toolbar, but is not unique to ArcMap.
  • The Map Document Window is the area where your map data will be displayed.
  • The Tools toolbar contains a series of tools that operate on the data displayed in the Map Document Window.
  • The View Toolbar changes between the Data View and Layout View of the Map Document.

3)Click-and-hold on the Tools toolbar and drag & drop it between the Table of Contents and the Map Document Window.

4)On the Main Menu, go toView>Toolbars>Layout to Activate the Layout Toolbar.

5)Click-and-hold the on the Layout toolbar and drag & drop it on the margin to the right of the Map Document Window.

Adding Data to your Map Document & Saving

1)Click theAdd Databutton, which will open an ‘Add Data’ Explorer Window.

2)Browse to the C:\Temp\your_initials\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\EX1_Datafolder.

3)Hold down your Ctrlkey to highlightthe CNTRY92, CITIES, andlatlong datasets.

4)Click the Add button to insert the data layers into ArcMap.

5)On the Main Menu, go to File>Map Properties (File>Document Properties, if you are using ArcMap 9.2) to open the Dialog box.

6)Click on the Data Source Options button.

7)Check the “Store relative path names to data sources” checkbox. (Note that the “Make default…” option is not available in versions prior to 9.2). ClickOK twice to apply the change.

8)On the Main Menu, go to File>SaveAs and saveyour Map Document to your C:\Temp\your_initials\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\ folder with the title Ex01.mxd.

Exploring the Map Document Window

1)Click on the checkbox next to the CITIES layer in the Table of Contents window. Notice that it turns the layer off.

2)Click on the checkbox next to the CITIES layer in the Table of Contents window to turn it back on.

3)Now Click and hold the CITIES layer name and drag it below the CNTRY92 layer, in the Table of Contents.

Note that the order that layers are displayed in the Table of Contents is the order that they are displayed in the Map Document.

4)Drag the CITIES layer back to the top of the Table of Contents.

5)Select the Zoom Button and Zoom into North America by dragging a box from Alaska to Puerto Rico.

6)Find the View Toolbar… (At the bottom left corner of theMap Document Window). Select the button that looks like a page. This will change your view to Layout.

7)On the Main Menu, gotoFile > Page and Print Setup. Change your Paper Orientation to Landscape. Note the difference between Portrait and Landscape mode in the example image?

8)Close the Page & Print Setup Dialog Box.

9)Select the Layout Zoom Out tool (you placed the Layout Toolbar on the right side of the Map Document Window earlier in the tutorial) and click once-at-a-time in the center of the Layout Page until you can see the entire data frame extending beyond your page border.

10)Click once in the Data Frame using the Select Element Tool(It’s back on the Tools Toolbar, to the left side of the Map Document Window) to select your Data Frame.

11)Using the blue Resize Handles, resizethe Data Frame to fit within your page border.

Adjusting Layer Transparency Using the Effects Toolbar

1)On the Main Menu, go toViewToolbars
and turn on the Effects Toolbar.

2)Choose the latlong shapefile and use the Transparency sliderto
alter its display. Use a transparency of about 75%.

Using Properties to Label Map Data

1)Right-Click on the cities shapefile and open the Properties Dialog box.

2)Select theLabelsTab and make sure that NAME is selected as the Label Field.

3)Check the “Label features in this layer”radio button and click OK.

4)Right-click on the cities layer name in the Table of Contents and select Label Features. Note that your labels turn off. Do the same to turn them back on.

5)Save your work.

Using Properties to Change Symbology

1)Right-Click on the cities shapefile and open the Properties Dialog box.

2)Select the Symbology Tab, click once on the point symbol button.

3)Use the Symbol Selector dialog box to change the symbol for your cities layer. Reduce the Size of the symbol to 10 points. ClickOKtwice to apply the changes.

4)Right-Click on the CNTRY92 shapefile and open the Properties Dialog box.

5)Select the Symbology Tab andclickon the Categories item in on the right side of the window.

6)Unique Values will be the default. Use the Value Field drop-down to selectNAME.

7)Click on the Add All Values button at the bottom of the window.

8)You can change the Color Ramp, if desired. ClickOK to apply the change.

Inserting Essential Map Elements

1)On the Main Menu, go toInsert > Title. A highlighted textbox will be inserted into your Map Layout.

2)Change the text in the Title Textbox to “North America” and clickoutside the textbox using the Select Elements Tool. This will make the text change and highlight the textbox with a blue dashed box.

3)At the Bottom of the ArcMap Window, on the Drawing Toolbar, change the text size dropdown from 18 to 24 and click on the Bold Text button.

4)You can reposition the text, if desired, using the Select Elements Tool.

5)On the Main Menu, go to Insert > North Arrow. Use the North Arrow Selector to select an appropriate North Arrow and click OK to insert it into your Map Layout.

6)Position theNorth Arrow and Resize it appropriately using the Select Elements tool.

7)Using your Select Elementstool, select and right click on your North Arrow and choose Properties. Change the Color of your North Arrow to Red, and the Size to 86 points. Click OK.

8)On the Main Menu, go toInsert > Scale Bar. Use the Scale Bar Selector to select a Scalebar and clickOK to insert it into your Map Layout.

9)Again using the Select Elementstool,select and right-click on your Scalebar and open the properties dialog box.

10)Select the Scale and Units tab and change the Division Units from Decimal Degrees to Miles. ClickOK.


11)On the Main Menu, go toInsert>Neatline, choose“Place Inside Margins” and select an appropriate border thickness from the.

12)Save your work.

Exporting Your Map for Distribution in PDF Format

1)On the Main Menu, go to File > Export Map. Note the options you have when Exporting a Map.

2)Choose“PDF *.pdf” (Adobe Acrobat file) from the Save File as Typedropdown.

3)Browse to your C:\Temp\your_initials\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\ folder and name your file Ex01.pdf.

4)If the Options window at the bottom of the Export Dialog is not opened, open it using the button.

5)Set the Resolution to 150 dpi.

6)Click on the Format tab and uncheck “Compress Vector Graphics.” ClickSave.

7)Browse to the folder you saved the Ex01.pdf file into and open it to see the final product.

Exporting for Use in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint

  1. Go toFile>Export Map to open the Export Map Dialog.
  2. Change the Type to JPEG (*.jpg) and note the available options.
  3. Set the Resolution to 150dpi and
  4. Check the “Clip Output to Graphics Extent” checkbox.
  5. Click on the Format Tab and make sure the Color Mode is set to 24-bit True Color. Changing the Color Mode to 8-bit Grayscale will produce a Grayscale Image, suitable for Black & White printing.
  6. Browse to your C:\Temp\your_initials\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\ folder and name your file Ex01.jpg. Click Save.
  7. Browse to the folder you saved your JPG image in and double-click to view it in the default image viewer on your machine.

Congratulations!

You have just created a piece of custom cartography using ArcMap.

Exercise #2 – Working with Spatial Data

The first exercise in the tutorial introduced you to the ArcMap interface and gave you the skill you need to create simple maps. Now you will learn how to manage and work with datasets in ArcMap. Once you have successfully completed this part of the tutorial, you will know:

  • How to tabular data to a Map Document
  • How to display Coordinate Data from a table
  • How to convert displayed coordinate data to a new shapefile
  • How to select features by location and export to a new shapefile
  • How to find
  • How to use ArcToolbox Geoprocessing tools, specifically to clip one shapefile to the extent of another
  • How to Join tabular data to a Boundary File
  • How to add a new attribute field and calculate its value from other attribute fields
  • Add a Legend to a Map Layout and alter its appearance

Creating a New Map Document and Adding Data.

  1. Save your work from Exercise 1 and Click on the New Map File Button, on the Tools toolbar.
  2. Make sure that you are in the Data View, rather than the Layout View.
  3. Use the Add DataButton to open the Add Data Dialog.
  4. Browse to the C:\Temp\SDM\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\EX2_Datafolder containing the data for this exercise and Browse into the \Shapefilesfolder. Hold down the Ctrl button and select and Add the following files:
  5. Tgr36047blk00.shp
  6. Study_Extent.shp
  7. Use the Add DataButton to open the Add Data Dialog.
  8. Browse to the C:\Temp\SDM\ArcGIS_Workshop01_Data\EX2_Datafolder containing the data for this exercise and look for the \Tabular_Data folder. Select and Add the Kings_County_GNIS.csv file.
  1. Go to File>Save As, and save your Map Document as EX02.mxd.

How to Display Latitude/Longitude Data from a Table

Many times your data will not be obtained in a format that is directly readable in ArcMap. GPS data, EPA toxic release site data and other types of data you might be interested are often found in tabular form, with geographic coordinates (Latitude/Longitude) for data points recorded as a field associated with the other attributes for each record. Here, you will create a GIS layer from a table of geographic coordinates and attributes obtained from the USGS GNIS(Geographic Names Information System) which contains information for geographic features in the United States. The procedure used here is essentially the same that you would use for creating GIS layers from other tabular data with geographic coordinates.

  1. Right-Click the Kings_County_GNIS.csv file and selectOpen to open the Attribute Table.


  1. Note that this file contains Geographic Coordinates (the LAT LON Fields), as well as attributes associated with each record.
  2. Close the Attribute Table.
  3. Right-Click the Kings_County_GNIS.csv file and select Display XY Data to open the Display XY Data Dialog Box.
  4. The correct X Field (LON) and Y Field (LAT) should be selected by default (although this will not always be the case).
  5. Under the Coordinate System item, click on the Edit Button to open the Spatial Reference Properties dialog.
  6. Click on the Select button and Browse to Geographic Coordinate Systems>World>WGS 1984.prj and clickAdd.
  7. ClickOK to apply the Spatial Reference.
  8. ClickOK in the Display XY Data dialog and you should see a new layer of points added to your Map Document Window, as well as a new layer name called Kings_County_GNIS.csv Events in the Table of Contents Source Tab.
  9. Click on the Display Tab to change the view of the Table of Contents.
    The Events Layer that you just created is not an actual file, but simply the display of the coordinates contained in the table. To perform many of the Geoprocessing tasks that are involved in any GIS analysis, we will want to turn this events layer into a Shapefile, which is the most common type of GIS data layer.
  1. To create a Shapefile from this layer, Right-Click on the layer and select Data>Export Data.
  2. Use the “Output Shapefile…” Dialog to browse to your EX2_Data\Shapefiles folder and name your file something meaningful, like Kings_County_GNIS.shp.
  3. Click Save, then OK.
  4. SelectYes when asked if you want to add the exported data as a layer.
  5. You can Right-Clickon the original Kings_County_GNIS.csvLayer and Remove it.
  6. Save your work.

How to Select Geographic Features by Location

Notice that the points in the shapefile that we just created extend beyond the Study_Extent layer in our map document. Many times you would like to create a subset of a data layer based upon the feature locations of another layer. Here, we will use Select by Location to create a subset of the GNIS layer that only contains points that fall within our area of interest.

  1. On the Main Menu, Go toSelection>Select by Location to open the dialog box.
  2. Select the options as shown below to:
  • selectfeatures from the Kings_County_GNISlayer…
  • …that are completely within the Study_Extentlayer.
  1. ClickApply and Close to see that the points within the Study_Area layer are now highlighted.
  1. Right-Click on the King_County_GNIS Layer in the Table of Contents and select Data>Export Data.
  2. Note that “Selected features” is the default Export Option, since you have an active selection for this layer. Accept this default and Browse to your Data folder and name your file something meaningful (Red_Hook_GNIS.shp). Click Save.
  3. ClickOK to Export the selection to a new shapefile.
  4. SelectYes when asked if you want to add the exported data as a layer.
  5. You can Right-Click on the Kings_County_GNISLayer and Remove it.
  6. Save your work.

Using a Tool in ArcToolbox: Clipping One Layer to Another

If your area of interest is a single county, but your data layers are all statewide, you might want to limit the extent of your data layers to the shape of the county you are interested in. When working with point files, this is easy enough to do using Select by Location as we have done above. Many times the features that make up one layer do not lie “neatly” within the boundaries of the features of another. In these cases, you might want to “Clip” your data layers to the shape of your area of interest. This not only helps create a “cleaner” map document, it can significantly reduce the demand upon your computer processor when doing analysis. Here we will use one of the many tools in ArcToolbox to clip the Tiger Census Block Boundary file for KingsCounty to the Study_Area layer.

  1. Use the ArcToolbox Button to open the ArcToolbox window in ArcMap.
  2. Note that it, like the Table of Contents Window, has three tabs at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select the Search Tab, enter “Clip” into the search box and click Search. You should be presented with a list of tools.
  4. The first Tool in the list should be the Clip Tool from the Analysis Tools group (Tools are grouped by type).
  5. Double-Click on this Tool to open its Dialog Box.
  6. Select the tgr36047blk00layer as your Input Features.
  7. Select the Study_Extent as your Clip Features.
  8. Browse to your Data\Shapefiles folder to save the layer as Red_Hook_Census_Blocks_2000.
  9. Leave the remaining items as their default values.
  10. Click OK to apply the Clip Tool.
  1. Right-Clickon the tgr36047blk00layer and Remove it.
  2. Click the Full Extent Button to zoom to the new extent of your data.